“Treasures in Heaven” – A Perfect Match for St. Paul’s
For Sunday, September 28, 2025
Treasures in Heaven by Emily Kubitskey
By David Jolliffe
I should not be surprised when the music selected to be part of the Sunday morning services at St. Paul’s matches up nicely with the lectionary readings, the psalm, or the Holy Eucharist liturgy itself. That’s how it’s supposed to be, and I know the clergy and musicians plan it that way. But every now and then, the connection between the music and the service itself is so tight that one cannot help but marvel at the match. We will have the opportunity to experience one of these wonderful liaisons at the 11 a.m. service on September 28 when the choir sings a lovely anthem, “Treasures in Heaven,” by the contemporary American composer Emily Kubitskey.
The lyrics for Kubitskey’s anthem don’t connect with either the lectionary readings or the psalm but instead with the moment in the liturgy called the “offertory sentence,” when, at the end of the announcements, the celebrant signals the offertory that begins the actual Holy Communion. Often, the celebrant says the familiar, “Whoever you are and wherever you are in your journey of faith, you are welcome here. You are welcome at God’s table.” But regularly, the celebrant uses language from Matthew 6:
“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and
vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.
But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy,
and where thieves do not break in and steal.
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
These are the lyrics Kubitskey sets to music in the anthem we’ll hear on September 28.
Kubitskey (born in 1986) is a Los Angeles-based teacher, conductor, and composer. With degrees from Vanderbilt and the Peabody School of Music, she is the founder and CEO of Global Arts, a not-for-profit music education program in Los Angeles’ densely populated neighborhood of Pico Union. In addition, she is the conductor of the Junior Philharmonic of the Kadima Conservatory, also based in Los Angeles.